This book is a winner. The authors are particularly well suited for this book. One is a successful novelist and the other has a broad background in global affairs. They are a perfect combination for this thriller which is placed squarely on the current world stage with all of the conflicts that are raging across the globe. The title foreshadows the novel’s main event.

Red is the code word developed by Dan Reilly, Vice President of the international division of a major hotel conglomerate called Kensington Royal. He travels most of the time to assess their properties. Red denotes a property facing the most dangerous threat level. It means that a hotel and its guests are in the crosshairs of an imminent event of some kind: a bombing, a weather event, an assassination attempt, anything deemed ultra dangerous. The rating system was developed by Reilly using what is called the Eisenhower Box which rates tasks based on their level of urgency.

Because of a recent up tick in violent acts against soft targets, Reilly wants his hotels to be prepared for anything, hopefully to prevent the danger entirely or to at least mitigate the destruction and death resulting from such an attack. We meet him as he is taking part in a Senate hearing. Reilly, a former soldier and State Department employee, is acutely aware that the world is fraught with unseen danger. He is asking the Senators for more cooperation from the government regarding warning information like the kind that the airlines receive concerning credible threats, but the Senators, particularly one irascible character who is grandstanding about the need being absolutely unnecessary, are not cooperative.

The leader of the Russian world (a Vladimir Putin wannabe), President Nikolai Gorshkov, and his main accomplice Andre Miklos, were abandoned when the Berlin Wall came down. The betrayal was not forgotten, and it has been simmering through the years. As Gorshkov rose to power, he did not forget his desire for vengeance. Ruthless, he and Miklos eliminated anyone who stood in his way. He wanted to return Russia to prominence, as a powerful star, by any credible method he could devise. Clandestinely, he was plotting to reassert Russian dominance by reclaiming former strategic territory that was part of the once powerful Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, (the USSR). To accomplish this, the President of Russia was willing, by any means, to create unrest and violence in unexpected places, placing the cause and responsibility for it elsewhere. He then used the incidents to create a narrative giving cover for his country’s own actions and reactions. Will his diabolical plans be foiled? Can he be stopped? Will Russia be able to create the necessary drama to make it seem that the country has a legitimate complaint and is therefore justified to take combative action?

Meanwhile, new standards for security, at the Kensington Royal hotels, are being implemented as quickly as possible. A spate of what has been staged to look like random terror attacks and murders has occurred. Security personnel are tasked with the job of protection, but ordinary citizens often also have to help. The mantra, if you see something, say something, is not a joke. It is a serious and necessary alteration in behavior. Everyone has to be vigilant. (The theme of this book could easily be non-fiction in the future.)

Although the attacks have not been blamed on Russia, the political environment and working arrangement of the United States, the European Union and NATO rankles Russia. When The Kensington Hotel in Brussels goes Red because Reilly suspects they have become the next target, he is forced to go under cover, doing double duty, working with the CIA as well as his hotel company. It is imperative that he do his best to thwart a catastrophic disaster. Who is behind this diabolical plan? He must find out before time runs out.

I was at the edge of my seat, reading this novel, wanting to get to the end to find out what happened, but not wanting it to end because I was enjoying it so much.

There are many little tangents which sometimes made the narrative confusing, but since this was an advance copy provided to me by Meryl Moss Media Relations, I assume there will be some serious editing to follow. Although the reader may guess more of the plot, than the actual characters do, that won’t interfere with the intrigue and excitement the book imparts, especially when real events are woven into the pages. There will always be that sliver of doubt about one’s own conclusion and a need to keep on reading as the tension builds and subsides, builds and subsides. The conclusion seems to prepare the reader for a possible sequel or series, since some loose ends are left untied, namely a romantic relationship with a woman who may or may not be an innocent participant in Dan Reilly’s life.

I recommend this as a very exciting thriller, perfect to take on a vacation. It is just long enough to last the length of one’s stay and interesting enough to capture one completely so that the reader will keep returning to it, that is if it isn’t read straight through in a marathon, skipping meals and sleep! The authors place the readers in the middle of the chaos of today’s world, leaving them to wonder whether or not it is possible to be safe anyplace, anymore, ever again. The book felt like a prescient warning for the future. The news media controls all information and who presents it controls the message. NATO has lost much of its strength; Russia is aligning itself with the enemies of the West and between Russia and China there is now an active game of what one could call a land grab. Are they instigating unrest in order to provoke chaos and create plausibility for their possible future actions? The answer is unknown! ( )